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GUN CONTROL

NY Passes America's Toughest Gun Laws After Newtown

Do the laws go too far?

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by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Image: AP

Last night New York passed America's most sweeping gun control laws, making the state the first to legislate in response to the Sandy Hook massacre. The package of laws includes the following:

1. Bans a wide range of semiautomatic rifles, like the Bushmaster used in Newtown. Owners of ~1 million assault weapons that were formerly legal will be allowed to keep their guns, but will have to register them with police within a year.

2. Requires background checks for buying bullets. NY is the first state to enforce this.

3. Requires background checks for all gun sales, even private sales between family members.

4. Bans ammunition magazines larger than seven rounds, down from the current 10.

5. Creates a complete database of all the people banned from gun ownership.

6. Increases jail time for gun crimes and for taking gun into schools.

7. Doctors and therapists must tell state authorities about patients who threaten illegal gun use.

8. Handgun owners must renew their licenses every 5 years.

The law quickly passed both the Republican-controlled state Senate and the Democrat-led Assembly, and was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday night.

Via AP and the Week.
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Is NY's new gun control package sensible, or does it go too far?

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • kirbstomp1
    !
    @dances-weebles - when you allow your representatives to enact laws that take away from you obtaining/owning something you want, is giving your freedom of purchasing and owning these weapons away. I guess you assume you live in a free country, I can prove you otherwise.
  • jessejaymes
    !
    @kirbstomp1 I think most of this is common sense in the new NY laws but that lowering the clips from 10 to 7 is just grandstanding. The banning of semi auto rifles is a joke. It just creates a black market. If you're going to register those who already have them just register everyone who wants one. That's another useless segment of the laws. I agree pretty much with the rest.
  • View all 45 replies >
  • dances-weebles
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    @SavageMazx right... and did you know that in the north slope region of alaska, when police respond to a call against any Iñupiaq indian the are not allowed to enter with a drawn weapon.

    my brother in-law was stationed on the island of kaktovic, alaska, about 300 miles north of the arctic circle for several years and here's how it works. normally people call the police for domestic violence and rape calls. since the two most common calls on the island are for those two crimes,(other than the fact that some industrious polar bear wandered across the pack ice and i strolling around town looking for someone to eat) it's not unimaginable that it's a real call, but many times they are bogus. when the police enter the house, however, there are almost always 6 to 8 armed Iñupiaqs sitting on the sofa and they start shooting when the door opens. the responding officer cannot return fire unless he or she has first been seriously wounded. what the officer must do is to wrestle the Iñupiaqs to the floor one at a time and subdue them with their hands behind them and wire ties on their thumbs... usually while all the other people are shooting at him... and since there are only two police officers on the island per season and one has to be in the office at all times there is no backup to call.

    the really cute thing of this scenario was that bob wore very thick glasses, and, as you probably know, it's quite common for one's glasses to fog up when entering a warm house from sub-zero outside temperatures, but if one enters the house slowly backwards they don't fog so badly... the Iñupiaqs all called him a coward because he had the good sense to wear a second chance vest backwards over the one that he wore correctly, and often wore a kevlar helmet as well. funny, that.
  • SavageMazx
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    @dances-weebles now that is dang funny. Here is how I would handle the "warning shot" first shot into the intruder while saying "stop or I will shoot", second shot into the ceiling...
  • View all 6 replies >
  • PNWest
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    @bsking I thought you lived in NY. As much into politics as you are I thought for sure you would have contacted your representatives. Am I wrong in thinking you are anti-gun control?
  • zeke
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    Just wondering, since a bullet is just one component of a round or cartridge does this new law apply to people who buy bullets for reloading their own rounds or what? This is what happens when uneducated people rush to judgement, i think dumbass does apply here!
  • PNWest
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    Keep in mind that this bill was passed by a republican-controlled state senate. A bipartisan effort to reduce senseless gun nut killings. Common sense wins the day in NY!
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    John_Matrix
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    Won't make a bit of difference. You only have to look at Chicago to see how gun control there did absolutely nothing. Hell, it's only getting worse there.
  • PNWest
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    @Mogal I made a special effort not to put anything too inflammatory in my original post. I figured the gun nuts would be all over this topic and didn't need my encouragement.
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  • dances-weebles
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    another undereducated hillbilly yammering along about communism... and he wouldn't know a communist if one bit him on the end of his nose.

    there's a difference between common sense and 'authoritarian', you know.
  • DerivePI
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    lets run a test - would this have prevented Sandy Hook test:

    1. Bans a wide range of semiautomatic rifles - Nope, pistols and rifles not on the list are [almost?] just as effective.

    2. Requires background checks for buying bullets.- Nope, weapons and ammunition came from mother of the assasin who had a clean record.

    3. Requires background checks for all gun sales, even private sales between family members.- Nope. Assasin did not "buy" weapons off of his mother's corpse.

    4. Bans ammunition magazines larger than seven rounds, down from the current 10.- Nope, unless you want to argue that the assasin killed 26 on one clip. Lucky number 7?

    5. Creates a complete database of all the people banned from gun ownership.- Nope, motherwas not on list.

    6. Increases jail time for gun crimes and for taking gun into schools.- Nope, unless you think sending the mother's corpse or the assasin's to jail would have an affect?

    7. Doctors and therapists must tell state authorities about patients who threaten illegal gun use.- Nope, weapons came from mother of the assasin.

    8. Handgun owners must renew their licenses every 5 years.- Nope, weapons came from mother of the assasin.
  • Knightkore
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    You need to go to New York and explain this simple common sense reasoning and logic to them....they probably will look at you, stare at you and laugh at you because they won't get it but....
  • DerivePI
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    @Knightmare - I'm afraid the only lesson that they will learn from would be a night of broken glass or another Armenian genocide. But something like that could never happen in this country, just ask the Cherokee.
  • View all 11 replies >
  • u
    RobertJHarsh
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    Background check for buying bullets? That alone will stop many big boxes like Walmart to stop selling guns. I see gun available for sale to be diminished in NY state as a result of this.
  • Knightkore
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    "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
    George Washington

    "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves."
    William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783

    The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
    Patrick Henry

    "Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
  • Malitia_Man
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    When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

    We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

    He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
  • DomesticG
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    @dances-weebles sometimes you need them for protecting life and liberty...and being alive and free just might lead to happy
  • DomesticG
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    @dances-weebles true...but a well placed bullet is often quicker and cleaner and minimizes the chances of physical damage to myself. :)
  • View all 13 replies >
  • DARSB
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    No, it does not. Healthcare workers have various statutory reporting obligations, sexual abuse, for instance.
  • dances-weebles
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    please show me the common sense in a doctor or therapist not reporting when his patient is threatening mayhem... in fact, i believe that the therapist should probably call the police to pick the person up right then and there, and have him or her forcibly institutionalised until they can sort out the facts and see if there's any amt. of seriousness to the claims. how's that sound to you?
  • View all 12 replies >
  • u
    crusader
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    Background checks for private gun sales is not enforceable, especially if the guns are not registered. Stricter penalties for carrying guns on school grounds, so the school shooters can get a few more years tacked onto the number of life sentences?
    A background check for ammunition is a good idea though, but not sure that it will be effective in stopping such tragedies as inspired it. Most school shootings have included handguns which will not be banned by this bill.
  • u
    crusader
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    Also I think that the database of those restricted from gun ownership should be nationwide not just statewide. I support gun rights, but think responsible gun ownership is a must for all gun owners, that would stop these events more than anything else.
  • jessejaymes
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    I'm sure school shooters are terrified by the increased penalties for shooting up a school since most of them commit suicide.
  • artjeb
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    YRS ago there was a nation wide requirement that to buy bullrets ( uhh ) ammo , there was a book that you had to regester in. a few yrs after that was imposed it was eliminated because it was in effected & awaist of time. I think the NY governor & assembly with the senate are a bunch of wussies .Rush to opress the people. I don,t worry about ammo & having to sign for it because I reload all of my ammo SCREW it.
  • PNWest
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    You can't belong to the right wing unless you are perpetually afraid of something. It can be communism, socialism, gays, black, illegal immigrants, the CHinese, Muslims
  • PNWest
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    Sorry post got sent before I finished....

    You can't belong to the right wing unless you are perpetually afraid of something. It can be communism, socialism, gays, blacks, illegal immigrants, the Chinese, Muslims, the deficit, Iranians, North Koreans, gun confiscation, Obama, Clinton or any combination of the above but you've got to be convinced that the world is going to hell in a hand basket to be a member in good standing.
  • o
    Mogal
    !
    Nah, they'll just up the ante on the repeating of memes.
    Someone here on this thread actually mentioned kristallnacht and the Trail of Tears.
    Must be a new meme.
    -shrugs-
  • jessejaymes
    !
    Some of this I agree with, some I don't. Most of it is political grandstanding and nothing more than a smokescreen for the public not paying attention to how little our elected officials actually do. It absurd to do a background check on Joe blow buying a box of shells. I can see if some guy is buying 5,000 rounds since it's been proven that those buys often end up in the hands of the cartels but that's mostly in border states. I can't see a cartel buyer buying them in New York and transporting them clear across the country to Mexico.

    I definitely agree with the mental health provision and I don't have a problem with universal back ground checks (good luck with enforcing that however). But most of all this is smoke screening. The ultra libs will rejoice and the reality will be the same as with the other 10,000 or so gun laws we have around the country. Nothing. Stockton California has about 4 times the national average for gun deaths and California has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Just more political grandstanding is my take.
  • u
    Raptor
    !
    Does it go too far? No, in fact it does not go far enough, there should be a ban on all assault weapons with no exception!

    Our children are that importent!
  • Dan_Tien
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    Do they even make 7 round ammo clips? My .45 was made to accept a 10 round clip (9 rounds is tight). I suppose that manufacturers will have to create magazines with dead space inside to retrofit guns made to hold more than 7 rounds.
  • o
    OhWiseOne
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    If gun control worked Chicago and D.C. would be the safest places on Earth. If you've ever been to either you know they are not. It seems to me that Obama wants the guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens but he says nothing about the gangbangers and thugs that terrorize our cities on a daily basis. I'll end with this. Any man or woman who would use dead children to advance a political agenda that they couldn't otherwise pass deservers nothing but shame and scorn.
  • mimi57
    !
    Chicago has the most restrictive gun laws in the country. However, In the first week of 2013 it had already had 12 gun murders. In 2012, 506 people were murdered in Chicago. The city boasts the highest crime rate in the nation and
    more Chicago police officers were killed by gunfire than in any other police agency in the nation. Most murders were gang related...gang members always
    find a way to get guns. So, when they ban all these guns, do you really think the
    criminals will not be better armed than the law abiding citizen?.. Makes me feel
    safer already!( sarcasm)
  • u
    handsomephil
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    It does not matter what is done about guns, if someone does not want you on this earth there is NOTHING you can do about but protect yourself the best you can. A gun, knife, car, rock, stick, bat, pry bar, what do we ban them all?

    It is the PERSON not the weapon of choice!!
  • kbobby41129
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    Its a shame there is people out there that could do anything like this. The gun laws are not going to help because if someone wants to do something like this they will find a way or use homemade bombs or what ever they can. I do not agree with banning the rifles or the magsnbut do agree for all the background checks they are asking for it may help some. I think the congress needs to quit having a pissing contest and focus on the worse problems this country has. Like allthe monopoly on gas just like J.W.Clark has in Ashland, Ky and a radius of 60 miles. No wonder people are going nuts they cant afford anything these days. Maybe congress needs to take a huge pay cut, they should not make what they do for tge little work they get done in a timely manner. Once they give the money support back to the Emergency dept such ad police ect them maybe they can get the guns away from the drug dealers and black market first then they can say something about our guns. Theres also has been talk about police taking training called Disarming America and some police are saying once they call for it they will quit. Kinda funny when you go buy ammo andbthey are out and when you ask why the store owners say they can not comment on the matter. GET THE GUNS OFF THE STREETS AND BLACK MARKET FIRST.
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